Palliative Care Strategic Aim

Palliative care aims to relieve suffering and focus on achieving comfort. Incumbent in the care is
respect for the persons nearing death and maximizing quality of life for the patient, family and loved ones.

Through the engagement process for the LHIN's 2016-2019 Integrated Health Service Plan, patients, caregivers and providers identified where improvements to the health care system are required as the system continues to support palliative patients to die at home by choice and spend 15,000 fewer days in hospital by increasing the number of people discharged home with support by 17% by 2019.

Palliative care, which includes end-of-life care, is holistic in nature and encompasses the following:

preparing for and managing self-determined life closure and the dying process;

coping with loss and grief during the illness and bereavement; and,

promoting opportunities for meaningful and valuable experiences, and personal and spiritual growth.

Who is this Priority Population?

Living the highest quality of life until time of death remains the focus of the Central East LHIN’s Palliative Care aim. All those residents approaching death have the right to die with dignity, to have access to physical, psychological, bereavement, and spiritual care, and to be granted the respect and freedom of choice, consistent with other stages of life. Achieving the aim will mean ensuring timely access to quality palliative care is not only an ethical imperative but also a vital component of the health care system.

Choice for patients and families to receive care at home or in their communities and make informed choices about their care is a core element of palliative care. Engaging patients and family caregivers in Advanced Care Planning, involves proactive discussions with family, friends and health care providers. Currently, there is need for earlier contact with palliative care supports, broader use of palliative assessment tools and heightened cultural awareness.

Palliative care accounted for 2.2% of days spent in Ontario hospitals in 2013-14 (119,068 days) and the third largest proportion of acute care days behind heart failure and pneumonia. Across all LHINs, Central East LHIN hospitals had the largest proportion of acute days for palliative care. Similarly, in Central East LHIN hospitals, palliative care accounted for the largest percentage of acute care days at 22,789 or 5.0%. Currently, 70% of palliative patients are discharged from hospital with supports.

Accessing Services

Visit the Central East LHIN Healthline to learn more about how the broad range of local services available including Hospice Palliative Care, Care Directives, Bereavement, and programs for Widows and Widowers.

Four Strategic Priorities

Establish common and consistent palliative care terminology to be utilized across the Central East LHIN sub-regions.

Establish a purposeful and deliberate coordination of care process at points of transition across all care settings.

Establish and implement an Advance Care Planning Strategy.

Review and continue implementation of an education strategy for health service providers.

Building on Key Accomplishments

Integral to achieving the aim and ensuring that palliative patients continue to be supported to die at home by choice is the Central East Regional Palliative Care Steering Committee. Jointly accountable to the Central East LHIN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Central East Regional Cancer Program Regional Vice President (RVP), the CERPCSC provides collaborative leadership to advance high quality, integrated, patient-centred hospice palliative care across all sectors based on best practices in accordance with OPCN direction, and in alignment with both the Central East LHIN Integrated Health Service Plan (IHSP) and the CERCP Strategic Plan.

The following are a number of palliative care priority projects and investments which have contributed to and will continue to contribute to achieving our Palliative Care Aim:

in partnership with the Central East Regional Cancer Program (CERCP) and with joint account-ability to the Central East LHIN and the CERCP, the Leads champion both provincial and local strategies; and collaborates with local partners to improve palliative care across all patient populations, illness trajectories and health care settings

support for service providers in home care agencies, long-term care homes, community support services, and primary care settings by providing access to Palliative Pain and Symptom Manage-ment Consultants (provide consultation, education, mentorship and linkages to palliative care resources across the continuum of care)

This strategic aim will also help support Ontario’s proposed model for hospice palliative care as identified in the provincial document, Advancing High Quality, High Value Palliative Care in Ontario: A Declaration of Partnership and Commitment to Action. In particular, it will encourage adults and children with life-threatening illnesses and/or advanced or chronic conditions to receive care that is proactive, holistic, person and family-focused, centered on quality of life and delivery of care by inter-professional teams in all care settings.